An image said to come from inside an Iranian military site shows an explosives containment chamber of the type needed for nuclear arms-related tests that UN inspectors suspect Tehran has conducted at the site. Iran denies such testing and has neither confirmed nor denied the existence of such a chamber.

The image was provided to The Associated Press by an official of a country tracking Iran's nuclear program who said the drawing proves the structure exists, despite Tehran's refusal to acknowledge it.

The official said he could not discuss the drawing's origins beyond that it =was based on information from a person who had seen the chamber at the Parchin military site, adding that going into detail would endanger the life of that informant. His country, a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency, is severely critical of Iran's assertions that its nuclear activities are peaceful and asserts they are a springboard for making atomic arms.

A former senior IAEA official said he believes the drawing is accurate. Olli Heinonen, until last year the U.N. nuclear agency's deputy director general in charge of the Iran file, said it was "very similar" to a photo he recently saw that he believes to be the pressure chamber the IAEA suspects is at Parchin. He said even the colors of the drawing matched that of the photo.

After months of being rebuffed, IAEA and Iranian officials meet starting Monday in Vienna, and the IAEA will renew its attempt to gain access to the chamber, allegedly hidden in a building. Any evidence that Iran is hiding such an explosives containment tank, and details on how it functions, is significant for IAEA investigations.

Beyond IAEA hopes of progress, that two-day meeting is being closely watched by six powers trying to persuade Iran to make nuclear concessions aimed at reducing fears that it may want to develop atomic arms as a mood-setter for May 23 talks between the six and Tehran in Baghdad.

Warnings by Israel that it may attack Iran's nuclear facilities eased after Iran and the six - the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany - met last month and agreed there was enough common will for the Baghdad round. But with the Jewish state saying it is determined to stop Iran before it develops the capacity to build nuclear weapons, failure at the Iraq talks could turn such threats into reality.

The IAEA has been stonewalled by Iran for more than four years in attempts to probe what it says is intelligence from member states strongly suggesting that Iran secretly worked on developing nuclear weapons.

It first mentioned the suspected existence of the chamber in a November report that described "a large explosives containment vessel" for experiments on triggering a nuclear explosion, adding that it had satellite images "consistent with this information."

It did not detail what the images showed. But a senior diplomat familiar with the IAEA's investigation who has also seen the image provided to the AP said they revealed a cylinder similar to the image at Parchin. Subsequent photos showed a roof and walls going up around the cylinder that then hid the chamber from satellite surveillance.

IAEA chief Yukiya Amano said in March that his agency has "credible information that indicates that Iran engaged in activities relevant to the development of nuclear explosive devices" at the site. Diplomats subsequently told the AP that the experiments also appear to have involved a small prototype neutron device used to spark a nuclear explosion - equipment that would be tested only if a country was trying to develop atomic weapons.

Iran has strenuously denied conducting such work … and any intentions to build nuclear weapons … but has been less clear on whether the structure where it allegedly took place exists.

The senior diplomat familiar with the IAEA investigations said the Iranians have refused to comment "one way or the other" on that issue to agency experts. He and others interviewed by the AP demanded anonymity because their information was privileged, and the official providing the drawing and other details on the structure also demanded that he and his country not be identified in return for sharing classified intelligence.

Attempts to get Iranian comment were unsuccessful. A copy of the diagram was attached to an email sent to Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Iran's chief delegate to the IAEA, with a note that the AP would be asking for reaction. Subsequent phone calls over the weekend went to his voice mail.

The technology used for the suspected multipoint explosives trigger experiments is similar to that employed in manufacturing tiny industrialized diamonds, and the IAEA believes former Soviet scientist Vyacheslav Danilenko - an expert in such diamond-making - helped Iran with designing the chamber.

Diplomats say Danilenko has told the agency that he did not work on such a chamber, but his son in law, identified by the diplomats as Vladimir Padalko, told the IAEA that the container was built under Danilenko's direct supervision. Repeated attempts by the AP and other media organizations to contact the two men have been unsuccessful since the IAEA revealed Danilenko's suspected involvement in November. The official who provided the drawing also shared the following information on the chamber:

Origins

Built in the early 2000s by Azar AB Industries Co. in the city of Arak and then transported to Parchin. Both the senior diplomat familiar with the IAEA investigations and Heinonen, the former senior IAEA official, confirmed this. Company officials did not answer calls seeking comment.

A vacuum pump used to remove air from the chamber to minimize pressure that could damage the structure during an explosion; a compressor that shoots water into the chamber after testing to flood and clean it; a septic tank that receives the waste; an elevation system to suspend the explosives in the upper part of the chamber during testing; and a neutron detection system outside the explosion chamber to measure neutron emissions. The senior diplomat said these features would make sense, or such testing, but could not verify they existed, suggesting they may have been added after the Iranians put up the superstructure shielding the chamber from satellite surveillance.

Time frame

The official said the chamber was used for detonation experiments in 2003, 2005 and 2006. Two officials familiar with the investigations said the first date appeared to be valid but they had no information of subsequent experiments. The United States believes Iran stopped working on a concerted nuclear weapons program at various sites after 2003, while the IAEA suspects Tehran is continuing some work but in a much less organized way than before 2003.

The scientists

Seyed Ashgar Hashemi-Tabar, described as "an expert in measuring detonation phenomena" and not previously identified. Acting on information from the same official, the AP previously named other scientists allegedly involved as Fereydoun Abbasi, the current head of Iran's nuclear agency, who escaped an assassination attempt in 2010; Darious Rezainejad, who was killed by a car bomb last year; and Reza Ibrahimi.

Inspecting the site at Parchin, southeast of the capital, Tehran, was a key request made by senior IAEA teams that visited Tehran in January and February. Iran rebuffed those demands and subsequent ones — the most recent within the last two weeks — as well as attempts by the nuclear agency to question Iranian officials and secure other information linked to the allegations of secret weapons work.

At the same time, the IAEA has voiced alarm at unexplained "activity" at the site — a term diplomats familiar with the agency's concerns say stands for attempts to clean up any evidence of the kinds of experiments the agency suspects were carried out.

A second senior diplomat familiar with the investigation recently told the AP that spy satellite images shared with the agency show what seems to be water streaming from the building housing the chamber. He said it also depicts workers removing bags of material from that building and put on vehicles outside.

A third senior diplomat said that the apparent cleanup was continuing in early May, the last time he had seen the images.

Iran has scoffed at suggestions of a cleanup in general and of testing a neutron device in particular, with Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mahmanparast asserting that nuclear contamination cannot be washed away. But experts challenge that assertion.

A cleanup "could involve grinding down the surfaces inside the building, collecting the dust and then washing the area thoroughly," said David Albright, whose Institute for Science and International Security in Washington looks for signs of nuclear proliferation. "This could be followed with new building materials and paint.

"It could also involve removing any dirt around the building thought to contain contaminants," Albright said in a statement emailed to selected recipients. "These types of activities could be effective in defeating environmental sampling."

Well then, your 12 year old nephew is obviously one hell of a gifted
little sprog, 2 point perspective, flawless imagination and a real
talent for exaggeration. C'mon Sam, you're a bigger liar than those you
accuse of lying. So what does that make you?

The image was provided to The Associated Press by an official of a
country tracking Iran's nuclear program who said the drawing proves the
structure exists, despite Tehran's refusal to acknowledge it. That
sums it all HAHAHAHAHA

Is this sarcasm or do these Israelis really expect us to believe this
'Mobile Biological Lab Winnegago' again? Hard to tell. It's amazing
that these guys never come up with any new material - they just wait a
few months till the laughter dies down from their last outrageous
embarassment of Iran's nanodiamond technology and then just put the old
wine in new bottles and TRY TO SELL IT AGAIN

We all know by now that Netanyahu and his government never lies, so we
should all believe without any questions or doubt what the Israeli
government, which is the most honest government in the world next to the
American government, tells us. This picture looks like it was taken out
of a bugs bunny cartoon. I am sure if we zoom in more, we will be able
to see the ACME logo in the corner of the picture.

Looks like Curveball is back in business! I wonder who will make the
speech to the UN this time about Iran's WMD program. Maybe Hillary
Clinton or Obama himself? Mossad should draw a few more pictures and
have them published. What I like most about the article is the detail,
just like those mobile WMD devices in Iraq!!! What a load of lies!

Fukushima Japan has a nuclear crisis beyond our imagination. The world
should be focused on the real crisis... The containment of the radiation
being released from the damaged reactors 4 of 6. Wake up world:
Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. CND

Is this the same type of drawing that Colin Powell showed the world in
his Academy Award winning performance at the Security Council proving
beyond a shadow of a doubt the existance of the Iraqi WMD? Surely even
the Associated Press can do better than this particularly if IAEA has
already has the photograph!!!!

... that "diplomat" went all cagey the moment he was asked
about what happened after the roof went up i.e. he is rock-solid on the
dimensions (the satellites will tell you that) but very evasive about
the pumps, pipes and detectors (all of which date after the roof was put
on). Conclusion: this "inside source" is a fiction, and this
"scoop" involves nothing more than Mossad bolting conjecture
onto the side of that chamber and then drawing a pretty picture .

It says the graphic came from within Parchim - i.e. the graphic had been
spirited out of that base - then later says it was created after talking
to someone who had seen the chamber i.e. it is an identikit graphic
based on someone's statement.

Given, there actually IS such a device located at Parchin military base.
What does that signify ? There would not even be proof it is/has been
used as an explosives containment chamber, even less that it is/has been
used to test explosives required for nuclear devices. It literally
evinces NOTHING except a certain scientific interest into explosives.

That has always been its role and, as such, if Iran is doing *any* work
involving *any* implosive devices for *any* purpose - military or
civilian - then Parchin is the logical place to put that implosive
device. After all, That. Is. What. Parchin. Is. For.

It's also a lousy bit of engineering. If the diameter of the tank is
4.6m then the portal frames of the building are far too flimsy for the
span. And where are the support columns for the piping to/from the tank?
Is this supposed to be 'evidence' that Iran has a nuclear weapons
program? Pathetic! People are going to die based on this nonsense?

But it IS a drawing. As the spy posing as IAEA team member has said, it
is based on someone else's description of the devcie! How can a
"drawing" based on someone's descriptions EVER be used as an
evidence against anything in ANY credible court?!

The author of this piece must really believe people are very stupid.I
can also draw Bibi and Barak hugging Israel's 300 nukes.That's must be
some damning proof!!! The MEK and their Mossad handlers are desperate
to torpedo the upcoming talks in Baghdad which looks likely to be
successful. The US is tired of this merry go round and wants a deal with
Iran. Dito EU, China and Russia. What else will be their excuse to
demonize Iran if the P5 + 1 finally reach agreement and a deal with Iran?

It has been announced that Iran is to execute another 4 homosexuals from
the town of Choram in the Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad Province, to death
by hanging for sodomy. According to human rights groups over 4000 gays
have been executed since the Mullahs came to power in 1979. If this
nuclear issue is the excuse needed to remove this putrid regime I am all
for it.

So what if the iran has nukes.. its still not a reason to go to war..
there is never a reason to go to war. even if iran decide to make a
nuke, it doesnt mean they are going to use it. You can shoot a man just
because he owns a gun.

For not performing an underground nuclear test by now. If the Islamic
Republic would have decided to emulate the measures taken by North Korea
(officially announcing that they have nukes), today we wouldn't be
witnessing all the ongoing nonsense.

The key is this: the "officials" claims that tests were
conducted in 2003, 2005 and 2006. Then AP points out that the AMERICANS
don't believe the 2005 and 2006 claims. Ergo, that "official"
isn't an AMERICAN. Which leaves only one country......

So the cat is finally out of the bag ! Those hiding their heads in the
sand are ignorant. Good that Netanyahu & Barak are not falling for
the charade of the ugly Ashton and others. Dismantle Fordow, stop all
enrichment & hand over the 20% stocks immediately. Else the bombs
drop. Obama, Ashton & the European wussies can go and waltz alone
somewhere or jump in the drain.

Now graphic designers are in the business of nuclear technology and
nuclear weapons. I must say I can design better image. How about if I
make it 3d, would that be anymore convincing? I can even animate it so
"mini" nuclear missiles come out with destination Israel and
USA label on them.

Balance of power saved the world during the cold war. It will do so
again once Iran has a reasonable size nuclear arsenal. Nothing teaches
people how to behave better than having a couple dozen nukes pointed at them.

Israel and Iran were once close allies. Israeli engineers developed Iran
and in return we received oil. We even built Iran's current Air Force
HQ. We flourished together yet the Islamic zealots who fooled the
Iranian people cut all ties and made Israel an enemy from a close
friend. Who's threatening whom today with so many Iranian proxies
surrounding Israel? Who doesn't recognize who? Who calls daily for one's
destruction? Iran.

Clearly you missed teh part where the "drawing has certain features
removed as if they were published teh identity of teh person providing
info would be compromised If this is indeed true, Iran is much further
along that previously estimated. The world dithers at its own expense.
Iran is running the clock on this inbaghdad this month, and if allowed
she will run it longer until she stops running the clock tells teh big
five plus 1 to get out of dodge cause they got a nuke.

So putting in all those details (i.e. details that anyone could see if
they were standing in front of that chamber) would only tell the
Iranians something that they already know i.e. the dude they were after
once stood in front of that chamber and saw it with his own eyes.

Who is to say this is even true? It may be like the WMD of Iraq. Make
no mistake, an attack on Iran will be globally devastating. And if ME
is already blowing up - imagine what a strike on Iran will do.

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